Literature is filled with all sorts of characters. Protagonists, antagonists, dynamic, etc. Then there are character archetypes: the innocent, the orphan, the warrior, the caregiver, the seeker, the lover, the jester, the creator, the ruler, the magician, the sage and the outlaw. Not only will you find these characters in literature, you’re likely to see them in movies and comics, too. Detectives have their partners and superheroes have their sidekicks. In my Valentine series, if Val “Valentine” Entienne is the hero, then I suppose her cousin Veronica is her sidekick. But I don’t want to limit Veronica to the role of sidekick, because there’s much more to her than that.

Veronica keeps her cousin Val grounded. She’s level-headed and rational and generally serves as the voice of reason. She steps up to the plate when she sees Val isn’t quite strong enough to stand on her own. A perfect example of this would be when Val’s mother returns and tries to re-enter her life. Veronica can see the negative effect this has on Val and she makes a move to put an end to it. But I don’t want to give the impression Veronica is always like this. She has moments when rationality goes out the window. For example, when she meets her half-sister Victoria and learns who is responsible for their father’s death, she actually makes an attempt to right the wrong and goes after this person. In fact its Val who has to stop her from pulling the trigger.

“I just hope, the next time you’re not feeling strong enough to walk on your own, you’ll let me carry you.”

—Veronica Entienne from Valentine 3: Queen of Hearts

Since Val is the protagonist of the series, most of the attention is focused on her, while Veronica waits quietly in the background. There are scenes when she reminds us she’s an Entienne just like her cousin, and she can handle a gun just like her cousin. While I don’t want to write yet another spin-off series for a Valentine character, I am giving serious consideration to creating a graphic novel series for Veronica. I kind of feel like she deserves it.